The Penn women's tennis team, who is ranked 56th in the nation, routed Cornell on Friday afternoon at Lott Courts, 6-1. With the victory, the Quakers (13-5, 6-0 Ivy League) clinched at least a share of the Ivy title.
The Quakers got off on the right foot on the doubles side, sweeping the doubles point with three easy victories. Sanela Kunovac and Rachel Shweky topped the Big Red's Suzanne Wright and Akane Kokubo, 8-1, while Alice Pirsu and Shelah Chao beat Kate Sternberg and Laura Leigh Tallent, 8-0. Raluca Ciulei and Nicole Ptak also defeated Nicole Chiu and Erika Takeuchi, 8-4.
The singles matches were no different, as the Quakers won all but one match. Quakers No. 1 Pirsu, who is ranked 20th in the country, continued her success streak by easily defeating Wright, 6-0, 6-1. No. 2 Kunovac, No. 4 Ciulei and No. 6 Michelle Yeh also notched straight-set wins for the Quakers. The only three-set victory was by No. 3 Ptak, who topped the Big Red's Kokubo, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
The lone loss for the Quakers was by Shelah Chao at No. 5. She was defeated by Piper Lucas, 6-1, 6-3.
The only team that has a chance to catch the Quakers is Harvard, who is 3-1 in the Ivies, pending a match with Yale on Friday. Penn topped the Crimson, 5-2, on April 12.
With a victory at Columbia, or any loss by the Crimson, the Quakers will win their second straight outright league title. Penn, who has won 15 straight Ivy League matches, plays the Lions on Sunday at noon in New York.
